Speed

Directed by Jan de Bont, Speed follows a cocky police officer (Keanu Reeves’ Jack Traven) as he attempts to save several commuters, including Alan Ruck’s Stephens and Sandra Bullock’s Annie, after a mad bomber (Dennis Hopper’s Howard Payne) places an explosive aboard a city bus. It’s a larger-than-life premise that’s executed to consistently (and impressively) enthralling effect by de Bont, as the filmmaker, armed with Graham Yost’s tight screenplay, delivers an exciting, propulsive thriller that captures the viewer’s interest and attention right from the get-go – with the movie’s opening stretch, which details Payne’s first effort at bombing a public space, perfectly establishing the antagonistic dynamic between Reeves and Hopper’s respective figures. It’s clear, too, that Speed only grows more and more compelling as it unfolds, as the picture boasts an eventful midsection that’s been peppered with an almost unreasonable number of tense, white-knuckle sequences and set-pieces – including (and especially) a gravity-defying jump over an unfinished highway ramp. The film’s place as an unqualified success is due in no small part to the commanding, iconic efforts of leads Reeves, Bullock, and Hopper, and it’s worth noting, too, that de Bont elicits top-notch (and thoroughly memorable) work from a roster of solid periphery players like Joe Morton, Glenn Plummer, and Jeff Daniels – which, when coupled with an unexpected and gripping third act, confirms Speed‘s place as a landmark action picture that remains, all these years later, one of the best entries within a notoriously uneven genre.

**** out of ****